(CNN)Reality TV started for Jeremy Hartwell, a director at a mortgage company in Chicago, with a direct message on a dating app.
"Someone matched with me then very quickly messaged me saying, you know, 'I have a boyfriend, but I think you'd be really great for the show I'm casting for, are you interested?'" Hartwell recalls in an interview with CNN.
While he can't say for certain the casting agent was on there looking for potential contestants, he does claim that most of the cast of Season 2 of Netflix's "Love Is Blind," the show he was cast on, didn't actually apply on their own.
"They were reached out to one way or another on social media," he says fellow cast members told him.
"Love Is Blind," which was nominated for an Emmy Award this week for outstanding structured reality show, features 15 men and 15 women who are placed in individual isolation rooms or "pods," where they are paired with a contestant in a separate room. They then have conversations to see if they can spark a connection with someone -- and eventually get engaged-- without actually seeing them.
Hartwell says he agreed to appear on the show after checking the agent's Instagram account and their job.
"I've actually, I've never really been that interested in reality TV. It just, you know, was never that entertaining for me," Hartwell says. "But I have a personal philosophy of seeking out new experiences, challenging myself, doing stuff that seems scary -- and this kind of fit all of the criteria there. I...
"Breaking news: Sri Lanka has been removed from the United Nations," says superimposed Sinhala-language text on a Facebook graphic shared on September 25, 2026 The graphic also features a photo of...